Partnership pedagogies : family-school-community educational partnerships in disadvantaged settings

Education and community are inextricably linked and their mutual reliance validates the existence of the school. Education at its best unleashes human potential and enables individuals and communities to flourish. This is best achieved when families, schools and communities work closely in partnership in the education process. Developing educational partnerships, however, is a challenging and complex endeavour. As gatekeepers in this undertaking, teachers are required to move beyond traditional teaching roles, to remain open to new ideas and experiences, and to build new alliances with parents and local communities. Such a model of teaching and learning challenges schools to become active agents of change in renewing the vitality of life within their communities. In this study, ethnographic and grounded theory approaches were employed to explore home-school-community educational partnerships in five Irish primary schools and in so doing endeavoured to construct partnership pedagogies that will help inform future policy in educationally disadvantaged settings. The study argues that a variety of benefits and outcomes for families, schools and local communities accrue from working in partnership in children's education. The range of outcomes and benefits for children and adults include academic achievement, social and personal development and capacity enhancement within the community. Family-school-community educational partnerships allow for a greater sense of ownership of the educational agenda, and this in turn generates higher levels of intrinsic motivation and a more culturally responsive curriculum. As a consequence, families and local communities develop a closer identification with their school, resulting in enhanced social capital throughout the school community.